Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway announced that a contractor has pled guilty to defrauding consumers through his residential contracting business.
Gene M. Matlock, owner of Matlock Construction, pled guilty on August 17 to one felony count of deceptive business practices and one felony count of stealing.
According to the investigation, Matlock solicited large, upfront payments from consumers for home‑construction and contracting services.
After receiving payment, he either performed negligible work before abandoning the projects or failed to complete any work or deliver any materials, leaving customers without the services they paid for and facing significant financial losses.
As part of his guilty plea, Matlock was sentenced to four years in prison on the deceptive business practices conviction and five years on the stealing conviction.
The Court also ordered him to pay $191,975 in restitution to victims. This restitution amount includes every victim identified by the Attorney General’s Office, not only those named in the criminal case.
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Matlock was additionally placed on a five‑year term of supervised probation.
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